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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

#WeAreNotTheHeadmaster

I finally feel like this circus is coming under control. Having a baby throws you through a loop, and it being the 4th- it's a #hurricanetornadoapocalypse. In the white rabbit's hole. He's almost 4 months, Harlow is almost 3, Lauren almost 7, and Taylor almost 12 (gasp!). Helpers in their own right, and destructive in their own ways. There are definitely pro's and con's to having them gaped as they are. They're all in different stages of life, with each stage it's blessings and curses. For me, if the house is a hot mess- guess who else is a hot mess?? To try to think of everything I want to do, need to do, and have to do.. it makes me want to scream in to a pillow. You seriously will wish Mary Poppins was real. I tell ya, that first 2ish months is hard work. To survive it, make lists. Cheap meals, easy meals, freezer/crockpot meals, daily must have done's, do 1 load of laundry a day and what each day it will be of (clean, dry, put away), a daily schedule of house chores (so hubby knows what you need done), and try to schedule the big stuff on the weekends (or his day off), eat dinner late (after the bigger kids are in bed) once a week if you can. I seriously could go on. What calms you? For me I LOVE liquid Ivory body wash. One sniff and I swear I relax.
 #1 Use that time (bath time) to be alone. Make sure he understands you want to be alone and not bothered every night for 30 minutes to unwind. The other rats don't follow him to the bathroom all day long like they do to you. You NEED 30 minutes alone. 
#2 Wind machine. Get one. Walmart $30 (also on amazon). Kids are loud. Can't get around it. There's one in Jason's room, and ours. We all sleep like husbands. When I'm feeding him in his room, I can't hear the TV and playing going on right outside his door in the loft. Only unless someone is crying hard, and even then it's not loud enough to make him jump/wake. It's amazing and lifesaving. One small pound of weight off your shouldersI've got some tips for the ladies that are having their 2nd, 3rd, 4th...of the litter.
In the AM, pour 4 glasses of water (no ice). Place them around the house. I put mine: in his bedroom, mine, kitchen, and bathroom. The most important requirement of BEING is drinking water. You will forget. It's inevitable. Something is always needing to be done, someone is always in need of help or to be dealt with. It's. A. Circus. #YouAreNotTheHeadmaster.  They are all fighting for that position. But lets face it. The smallest one is the leader ;o)

Get that fan! Everyone should have one. Buy one a month until you are all set. Nobody will be waking anyone else up. Start with the baby's room of course.

Buy double of whatever. Cans.. Can't have enough of those. Fruit, cream of whatever, soup... You will forget a lot of things. If you have doubled something then you won't run out so much.

Make muffins on Sunday, double batch of course. You will be hungry, and every time you THINK about eating..the baby will want to eat. Handheld food is LIFESAVING. Plan accordingly.

Let him hold the baby, and you clean the tub. Yeah he could just do everything for you..but you just spent 9 months off and on feeling ok. And then you had a baby. And now you feel 30% back to normal. Do something that isn't baby related. It'll take 10 minutes. 10 minutes of you focusing and physically moving and doing something "normal".

If you don't put the others in bed by a certain time every night, START. You need to have that time without the constant game -on repeat- of "follow the leader" (the leader being YOU!). Plus even if it's just 30-60 minutes of time with your hubby, it's adult conversation time. You're surrounded by midgets all day. Talk to someone your own size. 

You have a smart phone (most), download kindle and get books. While you're feeding the baby, read. It's a way for you to escape- without really leaving ha ha. I get an email everyday with a list of free books to download from amazon to my kindle app. OHFB ->subscribe.

If the baby needs to nap, and the hubby is home- strap the baby to you, put on some headphones and go about the house doing chores while listening to YOUR music. Let him mind the chillin's. Be sure to do the dance move, "That's nice! Now go find your father!". It will involve slight bouncing (for the baby), smiling while nodding with a thumbs up, and then pointing in the direction of said Husband. 
 
I think you're now prepped and ready. These are my few tips that can really make a day seem not as bad as it looks. And I've had some bad days. But it gets better my friend. Then it will get bad. But then it gets better again. Now, tips for when he's TDY.. that's a whole other post. Bottle of wine anyone?

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